Meth ring bust leads to 42 federal indictments

Wednesday

Mar 27, 2013 at 9:31 PMMar 27, 2013 at 9:38 PM

Law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced the federal indictments of 42 people in what may be the largest conspiracy ring busted in the area. U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said all 42 are charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine; and, if convicted, they face a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, a fine of up to $10 million, and a term of supervised release of no less than five years.

by Beverly Majors

Law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced the federal indictments of 42 people in what may be the largest conspiracy ring busted in the area. U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said all 42 are charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine; and, if convicted, they face a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, a fine of up to $10 million, and a term of supervised release of no less than five years.

Seventh Judicial District Attorney General David Clark said what makes the indictment different from operations in the past is the conspiracy charge … meaning all 42 people indicted were involved in some way with the manufacture and distribution of meth.

“And they are all then legally responsible for the object of the conspiracy,” the DA said. As an example of conspiracy, Clark talked about 10 people involved in a bank robbery, stating that all — from the get-away driver to the actual robber — were equally responsible.

“That’s what’s happened here, 42 people in one conspiracy to manufacture and distribute meth,” he said. “It seeks to link together the people who handle different parts of the manufacture and distribution of meth.”

Clark said he hasn’t seen a conspiracy charge “this large” since he’s been in office.

Of the 42 individuals, 33 reside in Anderson County and were indicted by a federal grand jury for various charges relating to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine.

In addition to manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, some are also charged with offenses ranging from possessing equipment, chemicals, products and materials which may be used to manufacture methamphetamine; knowing that the equipment, chemicals, products and materials would be used to manufacture methamphetamine; and federal firearms offenses, including two for using firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Also, in one case, a person was charged with maintaining a residence less than 1,000 feet away from an elementary school for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine. Clark identified that school as Claxton Elementary.

Killian called the conspiracy “far-reaching” and started about 2004. He said he couldn’t release information about when officers started the actual investigation but said it involved several different aspects of investigation, including undercover operations.

Clark said part of the investigation revolved around changes in state laws and how criminals got around those laws, using as an example the law that restricts pseudoephedrine purchases.

“The person making meth would use other people to acquire the pseudoephedrine for them,” he said, calling the process “smurfing.”

“Smurfing comes from a ‘Smurfs’ episode where Papa Smurf sent 10 smurfs out to collect ingredients for soup,” he said. “That’s how it got its name.”

Dubbed “Operation Meth-odical Destruction,” the investigation was designed to address meth-related crime in Anderson and Knox counties.